Unicorn
Unicorn is a simple text editor and dictionary program for use with Latin, Hebrew, and ancient Greek. Think of Unicorn as Notepad or TextEdit for the student of ancient languages.
Unicorn has built-in Latin and Greek dictionaries. When you double-click on a word, Unicorn will look up the word in the dictionary, report its meaning, and analyze its form. You may also run a spell checking tool over a selection of Latin or Greek text.
The following links give a good idea of Unicorn's capabilities.
- Getting Started
- Greek Keyboard
- International Keyboard
- Hebrew Keyboard
- Russian Keyboards
- More Details
Requirements
Unicorn is freeware. It is written in Java and can run on any Windows, Unix, or Macintosh OS X system. If you don't have Java software installed, you must download the latest version of Java. Unicorn requires Unicode fonts which are now part of all modern computer systems. No special keyboard drivers are required. Send bug reports and enhancement suggestions to Kirk Lougheed.
Downloading Unicorn
The latest version of Unicorn is 1.1, as of September 8, 2014. The dictionary files must be downloaded separately. All files are zipped except for the Macintosh disk image. Those updating from an earlier version of Unicorn may be interested in the change log.
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Unzip the downloaded file and place the Unicorn.jar file wherever you want. Be sure you have installed the latest version of Java. Double-click to launch the Unicorn application. |
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Double-click on the downloaded Mac OS X disk image file. Drag the Unicorn application into your Applications folder. Be sure you have installed the latest version of Java. You may need to go into your Mac's System Preferences and open the Security & Privacy panel, General options tab, to give Unicorn permission to start. |
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This is a zipped Unicorn.jar file for users of Linux or Unix. |
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The Latin dictionary file of nearly 37,000 entries was designed and compiled by William Whitaker. It was last updated on October 30, 2005. Unzip the dictionary file and place it anywhere convenient. Use Unicorn's Preferences dialog to load the dictionary into Unicorn. |
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The Greek dictionary file contains over 6000 Attic and Koine entries. It was last updated on September 8, 2014. Unzip the dictionary file and place it anywhere convenient. Use Unicorn's Preferences dialog to load the dictionary into Unicorn. |
Acknowledgments
Thanks to the members of the GreekStudy mailing list for trying out earlier versions of Unicorn. Special thanks to Paul Fonck for providing endless suggestions, vocabulary lists, and encouragement, and to Richard Hunerlach for providing the Hansen & Quinn exercises used to debug Unicorn's Greek forms analysis logic.